A Million Times Goodnight

by Kristina McBride

[Rowena]

The last book that I read by McBride stayed with me for days, I want to say even weeks. The characters, the story line, everything about that book broke my heart and I just couldn’t move on. I didn’t love the book but it was compelling and interesting, that I couldn’t put it down. When I found out that she was coming out with another book, I knew that I was going to read it. How could I not? So when I finally picked this one up for review and opened the book to start, I was disappointed that right from the jump, I didn’t like it. I don’t even know why I kept reading because the book never got better for me.

Now, I haven’t seen Sliding Doors but I did read Pivot Point by Kasie West and enjoyed it so I thought that I would be okay while reading this book but I was confused for a huge chunk of the book. I’m not sure if it was the eARC that I got or the way that the book is written but for me, it was all over the place. I kept getting sucked out of the book because I had to go back and re-read what I just finished reading and put the pieces together in my mind so that I could figure out which timeline we were in. I didn’t think it was a seamless transition from one timeline to the other.

My disappointment kept mounting when Hadley would make stupid decision after stupid decision (in both timelines) and then everyone else in the book. I hated the way that everyone in town treated Josh, I hated the way that Hadley used Josh and basically forced him into it by telling him that he owed her. I think I kept reading because I wanted to find out what the hell happened the night Penny died and what exactly Josh was guilty of. There were even times when I wanted to punch Josh in the throat. Nobody was safe from me.

The whole Hadley stole Ben’s car to have a memorial moment with her friends over her best friend’s death (the night was the one year mark of Penny’s death so Hadley and her friends drove to the last place that Penny was alive for a moment of silence and to just remember her and miss her together) so a pissed off Ben posts a naked picture of Hadley on FB and the picture goes viral pissed me off. What a freaking asshole to do something like that. He knew that Hadley was coming back and I get that he was pissed but what he did had lasting effects on Hadley’s life. He got his car back. Nothing in his life was going to change but Hadley couldn’t say the same.

But holy cow, Hadley is stupid too. In one timelime, she steals Ben’s car and goes on a little road trip, bar hopping with her friends and Josh. WTF? Brooklyn’s older brother gets fake IDs for Brooklyn and her friends so that they can get drunk wherever they wanted (he got all of them fake ids so they could all drink – who the hell was going to drive them home after they were all drunk? Seriously, WTF?) but he was pissed that Josh was them? He gets all in Josh’s face because of what happened to Penny, but he’s okay with his underage little sister bar hopping and doing who knows what??? What a dickhead. In the other timeline, they all head back to the party and while I liked that timeline better, it didn’t come without it’s share of WTF-ness.

There were plenty of times that I almost DNF’d it but I wanted to know how this whole thing would turn out and I wanted to find out which timeline was the real timeline. I shouldn’t have bothered because I closed the damn book with a scowl on my face because I didn’t like it. Ugh.

Grade: 1 out of 5